It was a case of all hands on deck to get the work finished on time. With the rainfall from previous months and the warm sunny conditions since the middle of May, the vines had really started to sprout and it was hard to keep up with the work so that when Frederic needed to go in and plough or spray he could access the vineyards without causing any damage to the shoots, particularly in the newly grafted plot of Grenache.

Thankfully, Yohanna came to help me out with a small team from a local company. They focused on tidying up the canopy, tucking in the loose shoots and leaves whilst Yohanna and I did more back-breaking work - bending down to remove the "wild" shoots from the trunk of the vines. We do this to focus the vine's attention on generating growth at the top rather than being "overworked" or "confused" as to where it should put all its energy into.

With the daily temperatures gradually increasing, we had to start very early in the morning (5am) and work until around midday or one o'clock when it was literally too hot to work in the vineyard. Between us we managed to cover 3ha in 10 days which is not bad going. We then had to tackle the new Grenache plot where we not only had to remove the shoots from the bottom, but also had to prune away excess new wood to again focus the vine's attention on generating decent "stock" from which to start forming the vine next winter.

We also needed to reduce the volume of grapes per vine as they were seriously overloaded and would cause stress later on in the season particularly if we have no rainfall from now until we harvest in late September.

We also had to tidy up the canopy at the same time and secure the wiring so that everything was neat and tidy. We need to pay particular attention here as the tractor can cause damage by ripping away at loose/stray branches and thereby undoing all the work from the previous 18 months since grafting and we would have to start all over again with the grafting. As it is, there are still a number of vines which need to be regrafted next year which is important to do so that we do not have too many “rogue” Cabernet Sauvignon vines in with the Grenache!

It took us three weeks and many long hours to complete this and I continued working until the early evenings just to make sure we did finish in time. Although this is back breaking work and difficult in the heat of the day, it is also very rewarding and you can quickly see the results of your labours!

We decided to increase the number of powder sprays this year which we do at night/early morning when the wind is less likely to affect the treatment. The vineyard has been very healthy throughout the season and we have only suffered a little mildew early on and no oïdium this year which is great news.

Our vineyard is looking in better condition than when we first bought it in 2005 so it is particularly rewarding to know that your vines are healthy and that all the work that has been put in over the last few years is paying off. We still have some improvements to make in the vineyard, the results of which we shall not see for another two years, but we hope to be able to increase our yields up to 30-35hl/ha in due course without causing the vine too much stress. This will give us a more “commercial” volume of wine to sell each year without compromising the quality of our wines.

We have had the usual problems with tractors and ploughs this year - mainly "Perky" the old Renault which is probably starting to feel its age. The intercep which we use to reduce the weeds in the vineyard continues to cause us problems mainly because it needs an experienced hand at regulating it and patience. We asked a neighbouring producer to work two plots for us and they have turned out virtually weed free whereas the ones we did ourselves, although they have fewer weeds than in previous years, still have too many weeds! We shall probably ask the neighbour to do this particular job next year as it will save us time and money in the long run, not to say, leave us with a tidier vineyard to boot!

The 2008 reds are still undergoing their malo-lactic fermentation ("MLF") and in some cases have yet to start (in barrel). We have started leaving the winery doors open to allow the heat to warm up the tanks and hopefully encourage the MLF to start. We have also “inoculated” the barrels with wine taken from the tanks which have undergone their MLF in the hope of encouraging the bacteria to awaken from their “hibernation” and get to work! This is not unusual here at Combebelle as the wines like to take their time but you ideally like the MLF completed by the time the next harvest comes around.

The 2007 reds are still in tank. We shall probably bottle the wine in September just before the harvest as we need the tank space and we have now run out of 2006 to sell. They are looking good and I shall be pleased to get these on to the market. There is a marked improvement in quality and style with each vintage here which is exciting. The style of 2007 is focused again on the fruit and the wine shows a lovely attractive aroma and flavour, a real departure from our first wine – 2005, which was in some cases a little too dominated by oak I think. Although we like our wines to have some tannin, we feel that a blend of aged barrels is the best solution for our blends. The only departure from this is the Cuvée Henri blend which we have started to age in new 500L barrels with exciting results – so watch this space!